Method for automatically treating textile material

ABSTRACT

This is a method and apparatus for automatically treating textile material contained within more than two batch-type treating baths, the following treating operations are successively carried out at a stage fixed in an automatic treating program in which each operational stage for each bath is set with a specified time lag from each other so that each bath operation can be independently carried out; (1) water feeding, (2) feeding of main treating liquid into each bath, (3) distribution of auxiliary treating liquid into each bath, (4) recycling of liquid in the bath and (5) discharging of the liquid from the bath; each treating operation comprises new arts for the convenience of automatic treating. The apparatus comprises a main treating liquid feeding system containing a main treating liquid vessel and means for feeding the main liquid into each bath, an auxiliary treating liquid distribution system comprising more than one auxiliary treating liquid vessel and means for distribution of the auxiliary liquid into each bath, and means for automatically operating the systems so that each operation for each bath can be independently carried out in accordance with the automatic treating program.

0 United Mates Patent 1 Q M lisliizawa et a1. 5] A r. 41 1972 54] METHOD FOR AUTOMATKQALLY 3,315,499 4/1967 Westall ..68/l89 x TREATIN TEXTILE MATERHAL G FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 72 I ventors: Kazutomo Ishizawa Osaka-shi, Osaka; 1 Tetsujim Kubom, M Jim MM, 820,385 9/1959 Great Bl'ltaln ..68/27 mgashiosakmshi, Osaka; Hosugu Maw 881,081 10/1961 Great Britain ..68/27 M' -k S d Ohtal H 322 2 of E i a 80 yogo Primary Examiner-Chancel1or E. Hams Attorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato [73] Assignee: Kanegaiuchi Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha,

Tokyo, Japan [57] ABSTRACT F iledl p 1969 This is a method and apparatus for automatically treating tex- [211 App No 819 773 tile material contained within more than two batch-type treating baths, the following treating operations are successively carried out at a stage fixed in an automatic treating program in [30] Foreign Application Priority Data which each operational stage for each bath is set with a specified time lag from each other so that each bath operation fi s 2 2: can be independently carried out; (1) water feeding, (2) feed- S 1968 ing of main treating liquid into each bath, (3) distribution of Z 1968 g 43/86034 auxiliary treating liquid into each bath, 4 recycling of liquid 1963 "WM/93478 in the bath and (5) discharging of the liquid from the bath;

p each treating operation comprises new arts for the con- [52] U S Cl 8/158 68/27 venience of automatic treating. The apparatus comprises a [51] DO6%33/02 main treating liquid feeding system containing a main treating I 58] i 68/27 liquid vessel and means for feeding the main liquid into each bath, an auxiliary treating liquid distribution system comprising more than one auxiliary treating liquid vessel and means [56] References Cited for distribution of the auxiliary liquid into each bath, and UNITED STATES PATENTS means for automatically operating the systems so that each operation for each bath can be independently carried out in I gill mom accordance with the automatic treating program les 1,960,] 83 5/1934 Garey ..8/158 X 7 Claims, 19 Drawing Figures Patented April 4, 1972 3,653,808

9 Sheets-Sheet l TEMPERATURE OF DYEING BATH BI q JALB *lc L. D l 3T- DYEING PROCESS 6F BATH Bl TEMPERATURE OF DYEING BATH B2 6 'JAL B- c 0 --Q--F'- G DYEING PROCESS OF BATH B2 TEMPERATURE OF LDYEING BATH B0 c D G DYEING PROCESS OF BATH BO Patented April 4, 1972 3,653,808

9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented April 4, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 4.

II llllllllllllllllllllllllll El Patented April 4, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 2 m C m m m0 2 m :u m m -5 5 m w mm? H 8 a w -m ,9 r/ M PM 5 b -5 0000000 @08642 TIME (min) Patented April 4, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Fig /3 TIME (min) Patented April 4, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Patented April 4, 1972 3,653,808

9 Sheets-Sheet 9 WATER FEED RZ- I |ro WATER DISCiIARGE RH o METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY TREATING TEXTILE MATERIAL This invention relates to a method for automatically treating textile products contained in more than two batch-type treating baths accordance with a material treating program.

Generally, when treating textile materials with batch-type treating baths, such as a top dyeing machine, cheese dyeing machine, winch dyeing machine, jigger dyeing machine, beam dyeing machine and tank dyeing machine, more than two of these treating baths are arranged together and several operators successively carry out various treating operations and supervision for these treating baths and various attempts have been made in the past to automate these treating and supervision operations in order to improve the working efficiency and the quality of the products treated. However, the treatment of textile products is very complicated and furthermore, as such complicated work is carried out in parallel with numerous treating baths, the operation becomes further complicated. For example, the kind and quantity of the main treating agent such as dye, oxidizing agent, scouring agent and the auxiliary treating agent such as dispersing agent, acid, alkali, reducing agent and Glaubers salt to be charged are different for each treating bath, and the time required for charging these agents into the treating bath are independently set in the treating operation program and for each treating bath, therefore, it is necessary, in order to automatically charge these agents, to provide with a main treating liquid bath and a plurality of auxiliary treating liquid baths, in combination, to every treating bath. Consequently, such a treating apparatus had the defects of being large-scale, complicated, and requiring high preparation costs.

The object of this invention is to provide a method for automatically treating textile materials contained in a plurality of batch-type treating baths accurately and successively by a simple operation.

It is already known to carry out the following method, that is, a kind of textile material such as wool top, cotton yarn cheese, woolen fabric, and nylon fabric is simultaneously charged into every treating bath of the treating apparatus containing a plurality of treating baths, and the same or similar operation for every treating bath is simultaneously carried out, and the different operations for each treating bath are successively carried out. It is conventional to carry out the treating operation of each treating bath in accordance with the same or similar operation program.

The present invention is characterized in that the following operations for every treating bath or container are successively carried out at a stage set in the automatic operation program, in which each stage of the operation for each treating bath is set with a specified time lag so as to be independently carried out with respect to each other, each operation for each treating bath comprising (a) feeding water into the treating bath to a specified level thereof, (b) preparation of a specified quantity of a main treating liquid containing a specified main treating agent within one main treating liquid vessel provided for common use all the treating baths, feeding of the main treating liquid from a bottom of the main treating liquid vessel into a treating bath, feeding of a specified quantity of cleaning water into the main treating liquid vessel to clean the main treating liquid vessel, and feeding the cleaning water completing the cleaning into the treating bath, (c) distributing a specified quantity of an auxiliary treating liquid containing the desired auxiliary treating agent from each of the auxiliary treating vessels provided for each of the auxiliary treating liquid into the treating bath, ((1) recycling, the treating liquid through said textile material charged within the treating bath, and (e) discharging the treating liquid from the treating bath.

The method of this invention will be explained by using the dyeing operation selected from the treating operations for textile materials as an example. Each charging stage of dye solution and auxiliary agents solution for each treating bath are fixed in a manner that a specified time lag is set between the charging stages for the treating baths. Also, in order to charge the desired dye solution to the treating bath, a dissolving operation of the dye into the specified quantity of water and a transferring operation of the dye solution to the treating bath through a transferring means such as pump and conduit at a specified stage indicated in the operation program for this treating bath. Next, after this transferring operation has been completed, a quantity of water is fed into the dye vessel used for dissolving the dye in order to wash out residual dye solution from an inside wall surface of the vessel, and the fed water is transferred from the vessel to the treating bath through the transferring means while washing out residual dye solution from an inner wall surface of the transferring means. As a result of this, the full quantity of dye dissolved in the dye vessel is charged to the treating bath and at the same time, the inside wall surface of the dye vessel and the transferring means are completely cleaned, by which there is entirely no difficulty in the operation of dissolving other dyes required for another treating bath by using this dye vessel and transfer means. Then, for the next treating operation of another treating bath, the same operation can be carried out by using the same treating vessel and transfer means at the stage set in the dyeing or material treating program.

In order to deliver an auxiliary agent solution to each treating bath, an auxiliary agent solution of specified concentration and specified composition is prepared in an auxiliary agent solution vessel provided for each auxiliary agent, the specified quantity of the auxiliary agent is distributed from this auxiliary agent solution vessel to one treating bath at a stage set in the dyeing program by way of a liquid transferring means. Furthermore, a similar distribution operation is carried out for another treating bath after a passage of the specified time lag.

The objects, embodiments and effects of the method of this invention will be understood more clearly by the following explanation and drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory drawing showing the relation between the treatment operation program for carrying out the method of this invention and the treating operation of a plurality of treating baths,

FIGS. 2A and 2B are explanatory drawings showing the relation between each treating operation when all treating operations of a plurality of treating baths are carried out simultaneously and with time lag, respectively,

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory drawing of an embodiment of the apparatus used in practicing the method of this invention,

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory drawing of the vessel for the main treating liquid and the feeding route of the main treating liquid for carrying out the method of this invention,

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory drawing of an embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the method of this invention,

FIG. 6 is an explanatory drawing indicating an embodiment of an auxiliary treating liquid feeding system in the method of this invention,

FIG. 7 is an explanatory drawing showing an embodiment of the supplementary vessel for the auxiliary treating liquid and the feeding means,

FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of a relation between the dropping flow rate of the auxiliary treating liquid and feeding period thereof in the feeding operation of the auxiliary treating liquid according to the method of this invention,

FIG. 9 is a graphical representation of a relation between the length of the feed conduit and the dropping flow rate of the auxiliary treating liquid in the feeding operation of this invention,

FIG. 10 is a drawing showing one example of an operation program for carrying out the method of this invention,

FIG. 11 is a graphical representation showing the relation between auxiliary liquid distribution and feed flow rate, and time in the method of this invention,

FIG. 12 is an explanatory drawing of an embodiment of the textile material treating bath,

FIG. 13 is a graphical representation showing an example of the change of the treating liquid level fed into a treating bath with time,

FIG. 14 is an explanatory drawing showing a model of a treating apparatus for explaining theoretically the method of this invention,

F IG. 15 is an explanatory drawing showing an embodiment of a treating bath used in practicing the method of this invention,

FIG. 16 is an explanatory drawing showing another embodiment of a treating bath, and

FIG. 17 shows an example of the electrical circuit for operating the treating bath indicated in FIG. 16.

FIG. 1 is an example of an operation or material treating program for carrying out the dyeing process, in which the temperature of the bath is indicated on the ordinate and the dyeing process on the abscissa, A is preparation for scouring, B is scouring, C is preparation for dyeing, D is dyeing, E is preparation for aftertreatment, F is aftertreatment and G is discharging of liquid and material, and B1, B2 and B are the bath numbers of the separate dyeing baths. Also, a to r shows the operation stages in the dyeing program; a indicates feeding of water required for carrying out scouring, b is charging of the scouring agent, 0 is feeding of water for carrying out rinsing after scouring, d is discharge of water from the dyeing bath, e is feeding of water required for carrying out dyeing, f is charging of an auxiliary agent required for dyeing, g is charging of dye, h is charging of auxiliary agents to be added during dyeing, i is feeding of water for carrying out cooling after dyeing is completed j is feeding of water for carrying out rinsing after dyeing, k is charging of agents for carrying out aftertreatment, 1 is feeding of water for carrying out cooling after after-v treatment, m is feeding of water for carrying out rinsing after aftertreatment, n is discharge of water from the dyeing bath, 0 and q are starting of a recycle pump and p and r indicate stopping the pump.

In a method in which such a series of dyeing programs are carried out automatically, the various processes such as A, B, C, D, E, F and G are controlled in accordance with the temperature program which is diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1 and the operation of the various processes must be carried out at the stages shown by the symbols from a to r with mutual relation. The dyeing program of dyeing baths B1 and B2 in FIG. 1 are entirely the same but the dyeing program of dyeing bath B0 a dyeing program from which the scouring and aftertreatment of dyeing baths B1 and B2 have been omitted.

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, A indicates the preparation for scouring, B scouring, C preparation for dyeing, D dyeing, E preparation for aftertreatment, F aftertreatment and G discharge of the aftertreatment solution and material.

FIG. 2A shows the method of carrying out simultaneously every dyeing operation of a plurality of dyeing baths such as preparation, starting, charging and discharging of textile material into and from each of these dyeing baths, preparation of dyeing solution and its feeding, and preparation and feeding time interval between the starting stage of the two dyeing baths can be expressed as having a mutual time lag. Similarly, time lag t is provided between dyeing baths B2 and B3, and

between B3 and B4. The preparation time for treating operation indicated in FIG. 28 may be much shorter than the preparation time for the treating operation indicated in FIG. 2A, it will be possible to suitably distribute the labor of the operators for each operation and the fluctuation in the load of the heat source and water source can be made relatively small.

Also, in case the operation of dyeing baths B1, B2 and B0 of FIG. 1 are carried out similar to dyeing baths B1, B2 and B0 indicated in FIG. 28, it will mean that a time lag of t is provided between the operation stage a to -r of dyeing bath BI and those of dyeing bath B2 respectively. Also, if a similar time lag is provided in the dyeing operation of dyeing bath B0 in FIG. 1, the operations of dyeing bath B0 can be carried out without overlapping of time with that of dyeing bath B1 and B2.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out charging of the dye and auxiliary agents to a plurality of dyeing baths 1, 2, 3 and 4 in accordance with the aforementioned method, in which a dye solution vessel 5 is connected to a feed pump 6 for a dissolved dye solution.

If the dyeing operations of dyeing baths or containers 1 and 2 of FIG. 3 are carried out in accordance with the dyeing program of B1 and B2 of FIG. 1, first the specified quantity of the scouring agent solution is fed to the dyeing bath 1 by way of liquid transfer pump 25 and charging valve 29 from auxiliary treating liquid vessel 21 of FIG. 3 at the scouring solution feeding stage b indicated in the treating program of dyeing bath B1 of FIG. 1 then, after a specified time lag, the specified quantity of the scouring agent solution is similarly fed to dyeing bath 2 by way of the liquid transfer pump 25 and charging valve 33 from the auxiliary treating liquid vessel 21 at the scouring agent solution feeding stage b of bath B2 of FIG. 1.

Such a method of operation is applied to each dyeing operation and each dyeing bath. Needless to say, it is necessary for the time required for feeding the specified quantity of a certain treating liquid into one dyeing bath to be shorter from the start of the operation to the start of the same operation of the next dyeing bath. The feeding quantity of each treating liquid can always be constantly maintained by operating a constant quantity pump having a constant flow rate such as a diaphragm pump or plunger pump. Furthermore, if the liquid feeding period and its starting stage are preset for each dyeing bath, the specified quantity of the treating liquid can be charged independently to each dyeing bath. Also, if the time for charging the treating liquid is set at zero in the dyeing proof auxiliary liquid in the same time for every bath. This method has been conventionally used in the past because there is little possibility of making mistakes in the operations and supervision is easy. However, this method had the following defects,

1. As shown in FIG. 2A, a preparation time t is required before the first treating operation and a preparation time t is required after the treating operation of time -t, has been completed and before the second treating operation is started.

2. As this operation is carried out simultaneously for a large number of dyeing baths, the labor for operation must be concentrated here at one time.

3. A large load will be placed on the heat source and water source at one time.

In the method of FIG. 23, however, a specified time lag is provided between the starting stages of the operation of the dyeing baths in order to remove the aforementioned defects. That is, time t from the starting of operation of dyeing bath B1 to the starting of dyeing bath B2 is used for preparation for dyeing of dyeing bath B2. In other words, there is a specified time interval from the starting of a first dyeing bath to the starting of a second dyeing bath and then providing a specified gram, the treating liquid can not be charged even when the treating liquid charging stage of the dyeing program is reached. Also, in case operations of two dyeing baths overlap, in other words, in case signals are given to charge the same treating liquid into two dyeing baths almost simultaneously, there will be no trouble in the operation as the specified treating liquid is first charged into the dyeing bath for which the signal has been slightly faster and next, the specified quantity of the treating liquid is charged into the next bath. However, during the time the treating liquid is being charged into the dyeing bath which has received the signal first, charging of the treating liquid into the next dyeing bath cannot be carried out and there will be a possibility of trouble such as overlapping of the operation time of other dyeing baths during the time of this charging operation. In this case, until the charging of the dyeing bath which has first received the signal is completed, all other chargings of that received late signal are stopped. Also, feeding of dye is carried out at a dye feeding stage of each dyeing bath lagged successively in the same manner as the aforementioned charging of treating solution and consequently, in case of feeding dye to dyeing bath 1 in FIG. 3, for example, dye required for the substance to be dyed in dyeing bath 1 is charged into dye solution vessel 5 and dissolved into suitable hot water, next, this is fed to dyeing bath 1 by way of conduit 11, dye solution feed pump 6, liquid transfer conduit 12, dye solution feed valve 7 and solution transfer conduit 13,

next, the dye solution vessel 5, liquid transfer conduit 11, ump 6, liquid transfer conduit 1. feed valve 7 and liquid transfer conduit 13 and rinsed with a suitable hot water and then a dye of different color tone than that of dyeing bath 1 can be charged to dyeing bath 2 by the same method in the next stage.

As explained above, the feature of the method of this invention is that the treating operation of a plurality of treating baths contained in a textile material treating apparatus is carried out in accordance with a treating program provided with a specified time lag, and for this purpose, a treating liquid vessel which contains the treating agent necessary for the treating operation and connected fluidly to all treating baths is disposed for each treating agent. One treating liquid vessel in the treating apparatus is sometimes used successively for different treating liquids and of different concentrations such as in the case of a dye vessel. One of the problems in such a case is that, after the treating liquid contained in the treating liquid vessel has been fed to the treating bath, this treating liquid vessel and the transferring passage must be rinsed thoroughly before the next treating liquid is filled in it. Another problem is that the treating liquid will remain in the treating liquid vessel and the transfer passage, and consequently, the amount of treating agent to be fed will be insufficient to the extent of this remaining quantity.

In order to solve these two problems, in the method of this invention, first, the operation of feeding the treating liquid in the treating liquid vessel into the treating bath is carried out, then this treating liquid vessel and the transfer passage are rinsed with a specified quantity of rinsing water and the operation of feeding this rinsing water is carried out after rinsing of the treating bath has been completed. This method of feeding the treating liquid is explained in further detail with reference to FIG. 4 using a dye solution as the feed.

In FIG. 4, a hot and cold water supply source 45 is provided for dissolving the dye, ejection pipes 46 are provided with nozzles for ejecting hot or cold water in shower form toward the vessel wall of dye solution vessel 5, a stirrer 47 is employed for dissolving the dye, and a liquid level meter 48 is provided for detecting the quantity of dye solution and completion of dye solution feed. A dye solution feed pump 50, dye solution feed valves 51 and 52, a liquid transfer conduit 53 for feeding the dye solution to dyeing bath A by way of feed valve 51, a liquid transfer conduit 54 for feeding the dye solution to dyeing bath B by way of feed valve 52, and connecting conduits 55, 56, 57 and 58 are provided and connected as shown in FIG. 4. Now, a fixed quantity of hot or cold water is fed from hot or cold water source 45 by way of an ejection pipe 46 provided with a spray nozzle up to the upper limit of level meter 48, stirrer 47 is started, hot or cold water feed from 45 and 46 stopped, dye is charged into this dye solution vessel 49 and dissolved with stirring for a fixed time. After dissolution of the dye has been completed, the dye solution is sent by dye solution feed pump 50 through conduit 55 liquid transfer conduit 56, and in case the dye solution is to be fed to dyeing bath A, this is carried out through liquid feed conduit 53 by way of dye solution feed valve 51. Pumping of the dye solution is continued and at the time the liquid level meter 48 detects that the dye solution in the dye solution vessel 49 has become almost exhausted, feeding of hot or cold water from the hot or cold water source 45 is started, by which hot or cold water from the ejecting pipe, provided with nozzles, flow down over the entire surface of the wall of the dye solution vessel to thoroughly wash out and flush the residual dye solution on the wall of the vessel, next, the rinsing liquid is continually sent by pump 50 which is operating to rinse the liquid transfer conduit 55, 56 and 53, and the feed valve 51 by the liquid which is carrying out the rinsing for a fixed time, feeding of hot or cold water is stopped after the fixed time and pump 50 is stopped, by which the en tire series of operations is completed and the next dye dissolution and feeding can be started.

Points which are particularly important in the above-mentioned dye solution feeding operation are explained next.

Now, let us take as the volume of the dye solution prepared by dissolving the specified quantity of dye which is to be charged into the dyeing bath within the dye solution vessel, R as the flow rate of the rinsing water fed to the dye solution vessel for rinsing it, T as this feeding time, Q the total volume of the treating solution containing said specified quantity of dye which is to be fed to the treating bath and S as the capacity of the transfer pump for feeding rinsing water from the dye solution vessel to the treating bath. The rinsing water ejected on the wall surface of the dye solution vessel flows down this wall surface while rinsing it and is discharged from the discharge outlet at the bottom of the vessel but when the rinsing water remains at the bottom of the vessel, foam and suspended substances float up to the surface of this residual liquid and this suspended substance remains after the rinsing water has been discharged. Therefore, it is necessary for the rinsing water fed to the dye solution vessel to be discharged immediately and not allowed to remain at the vessel bottom. In other words, the feed flow rate of the rinsing water and the discharge fiow rate must be equal. For this purpose, the relation of R g S must exist between the flow rate of rinsing water R and the discharge capacity of the discharge pump 5. Also, as the feed quantity of the dye solution required by the treating bath is Q2, the relation of Q,-, Q RT must exist between the volume of dye solution fed initially Q, and the volume of rinsing water fed after this RT. The internal wall surface of the dye solution vessel 49, pump 50, feed valve SI and the liquid transfer conduits 55, 56 and 53 are rinsed completely by this discharge and rinsing method and it will become possible to feed a second dye solution of a different color tone to a different dyeing bath by using the same dye solution vessel 49, pump 50 and the liquid transfer conduits.

Next, in order to feed a dye solution to dyeing bath B, valve 51 is operated, the dye solution is passed through conduit 57 from conduit 46 and the passage through conduit 53 is closed. Also, valve 52 is operated to permit the dye solution to pass through conduit 54 from conduit 57 and the passage to conduit 58 is closed.

Next, as an example of automatic operation of the apparatus of this invention, an example of dyeing is explained with reference to FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, is shown a dyeing apparatus comprising a dyeing bath 59, a material 60 to be dyed, a treating liquid circulation pump 61, a conduit 62, a container 63 for the material to be dyed, a liquid bath 64 in the container, a heat exchanger 65 in the dyeing bath, a steam trap 6 for the heat exchanger 65, and a temperature detector having a detecting tip 67 in the dyeing bath. The apparatus further comprises a steam control valve 68 for controlling temperature of the dyeing bath, a pressure reducing valve 69 for steam, a cooling water control valve 70 for temperature control, a pressure reducing valve 71 for the cooling water. A cooling water discharge valve 72, a feed water valve 73, discharge valves 74 and 75 for treating liquid in the dyeing bath, a dye solution vessel 76, vessels 77, 78, 79 and 80 for various auxiliary treating liquid required for dyeing, one of the operation valves 81 for dye solution feeding, feeding valves 82, 83, 84 and 85 for feeding the auxiliary treating liquid into the dyeing baths from the auxiliary treating liquid vessels 77, 78, 79 and 80 by way of liquid transfer pumps 87, 88, 89 and 90, respectively, and a dye solution feed pump 86.

In the dyeing apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the temperature is controlled by a suitable program control means in accordance with the specified program such as that indicated in FIG. 1. Also, the operation of the apparatus is carried out by a suitable program operation means at an operation stage specified in the program. The temperature control of this apparatus is carried out by operating a steam control valve 68, cooling water control valve 70, heat exchanger 65, steam trap 66 and cooling water discharge valve 72 by using the program control means. Also, the operation of this apparatus is carried out in the same manner as described in the explanation of FIG. 4.

The feeding operation of auxiliary treating liquids such as the addition of sulfuric acid solution in the dyeing process of wool fiber products by acid dye and addition of caustic soda and sodium hydrosulfite in the dyeing process of cellulose fiber products by fine dispersed vat dye must be carried out very slowly over a long period of time.

In the method of this invention, the treating operations of the various treating baths are carried out in accordance with an operation program prepared with a mutual specified time lag but frequently, the time required for feeding the aforementioned treating liquids to the treating bath becomes longer than the interval of the operation time for each treating bath fixed in the program. In order to solve such a problem, previously one treating liquid vessel and liquid transfer pump were provided for each treating bath. However, the equipment cost became very high in the previous method because acid and alkali resistant transfer pumps must be used in the dyeing apparatus. In order to remove such defects present in the previous method, the following improvement was further made in the method of this invention. That is, when feeding a treating liquid to each treating bath of a control system containing more than two textile material treating baths which are automatically operated simultaneously with a specified time lag therebetween, this improvement is attained by carrying out simultaneously the distribution operation of sending successively to the auxiliary vessels for auxiliary treating liquid provided for its treating bath the specified quantity of the auxiliary treating liquid at a specified stage in accordance with the specified operation program and the feeding operation of natural dropping to this treating bath at a flow rate lower than the flow rate in the distribution. conventionally, it has been widely used in chemical processes that a dye solution vessel and a set of auxiliary liquid vessels are provided for each dyeing bath and operated independently for each dyeing bath, or that a dye solution vessel and a set of auxiliary liquid vessels are commonly provided for a plurality of dyeing baths and an independent auxiliary treating liquid transfer pump are provided for each auxiliary treating liquid vessel between this vessel and the dyeing bath, whereby the auxiliary treating liquid is Y successively fed into the dyeing baths. However, the apparatus becomes complicated in case of the former, manual operation was required for preparing the dye solutions and auxiliary treating liquid required for dyeing for each dye solution vessel and auxiliary treating liquid vessel, and also it was necessary to completely rinse the dye solution vessel after each dyeing, which reduced the automation effect. Also, the latter was unsuitable for a dyeing apparatus composed of a large number of batch-type dyeing baths, because a large number of feed pumps corresponding to the product of the number of the kinds of auxiliary agents and the number of dyeing baths were required for the apparatus. As mentioned above, in the method of this invention, the equipment cost is reduced and manual dye dissolution work or rinsing of the dye solution vessel is unnecessary, personnel for feeding the auxiliary treating liquids to the dyeing bath can be omitted, concentration of labor for charging and discharging the material into and from the dyeing bath can be ignored by introducing time lag into the operation program of the various treating baths and concentration of feeding quantity of water and steam can be reduced, by which it will become possible to carry out efficient treatment operation automatically and easily by skillful application to the batch-type dyeing condition.

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing showing an embodiment of the distribution system of the auxiliary treating liquid, in which the auxiliary treating liquid 102 is contained in an auxiliary treating vessel 101, only one of which is provided in the distribution system. The auxiliary treating liquid vessel 101 is fluidly connected to supplementary vessels 107, 108 and 109 for auxiliary treating liquid by way of a pump 103 which has a constant transferring rate, liquid transfer pipes and automatic valves and these supplementary vessels 107, 108 and 109 for auxiliary treating liquids are fluidly connected to treating baths 104, 105 and 106, respectively. Now, when the specified stage for feeding the auxiliary treating liquid 102 into the treating bath 106 reaches the distribution program of the treating bath 106, pump 103 starts automatically, and at the same time, only automatic valve 112 opens, by which the auxiliary treating liquid passes through pipes 113, 114 and 115, and automatic changeover valve 112 and is distributed to the supplementary vessel 109 within a relatively short time. That is, the pump 103 is actuated for a fixed time in accordance with the program for distributing a specified quantity of the auxiliary treating liquid 102 to the supplementary vessel 109 and then stops, and valve 112 closes simultaneously. Next, after a specified time lag and a specified stage indicated by the program for distributing the auxiliary treating liquid 102 to treating bath is reached, the pump 103 starts again and automatic valve 111 opens simultaneously, by which the auxiliary treating liquid 102 is distributed to supplementary vessel 108 by way of pipes 113, 116, 117 and 118, and automatic changeover valve 111. Next, the auxiliary treating liquid 102 is similarly fed from the supplementary vessel 107 to treating bath 104 through pipes 119, 120 and 121, and automatic changeover valve 110 at the specified stage for feeding. The auxiliary treating liquid distributed to the respective supplementary vessels 109, 108 and 107 for auxiliary treating liquids are immediately fed to treating baths 106, 105 and 104 by way of dropping pipes 124, 123 and 122, respectively.

In FIG. 6, three treating baths are contained in this distribution system but two or more than four vessels can be similarly contained.

Now, if M is the required quantity of the auxiliary treating liquid for treatment and Q is the flow rate of the distribution (flowing quantity per unit time), that is, the flow rate of the pump, the time required for distribution T is given by the formula 2 /Qa) When the required dropping time of the auxiliary treating liquid from the supplementary vessel to this treating bath is T and the dropping flow rate when dropping to the treating bath from the supplementary vessel is 0,, the following relation exists,

a Q4) Therefore, when T T is required, the relation between Q and Q must be in a relation Qa Q4 Therefore, if the auxiliary treating liquid is distributed to the supplementary vessel from the auxiliary treating-liquid vessel at a'high flow rate Q it is necessary to drop the auxiliary treating liquid to the treating bath at a low flow rate 0,. Furthermore, it is desirable to carry out this feeding at as uniform a flow rate as possible.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory drawing showing an embodiment of the supplementary vessel and the dropping path between the supplementary vessel and the treating bath for satisfying the above requirement, in which fine dropping pipe 125 is fluidly connected to supplementary vessel 109. The auxiliary treating liquid distributed into the supplementary vessel 109 flows down into the treating bath 106 through the fine dropping pipe 125 and pipe 124. The internal diameter of the fine dropping pipe 125 is smaller than that of pipe 1 15 and the auxiliary treating liquid flows down freely through this fine pipe, by which Q Q will naturally be obtained. Thus, a portion of the auxiliary treating liquid distributed to supplementary vessel 109 starts to flow down into fine dropping pipe 125 while a greater portion thereof remains temporarily in the supplementary vessel 109 to form liquid level 126. Ventilating pipe 127 is provided for making the pressures of the treating bath 106 and supplementary vessel 109 equal.

Now, when the height from the bottom to the top of fine dropping pipe 125 is H,, the height from the bottom of fine dropping pipe to the liquid level 126 is H the area of the horizontal section of supplementary vessel 109 is A,, the diameter of the horizontal cross section of fine dropping pipe 125 is D, the dropping flow rate Q which flows down through the fine dropping pipe 125 is controlled by the height of the liquid level H and the size of D. If D is constant, Q becomes larger the higher the liquid level I-i becomes and smaller the lower the liquid level I-I becomes. Therefore, it is necessary only to make H small when it is required to make Q small but on the other hand, the variation of 0., during the feeding operation becomes large so that the aforementioned requirement of feeding the auxiliary treating liquid at as constant a pressure as possible cannot be satisfied. In order to fullfil such a requirement and make a decrease of the final flow rate of the auxiliary treating liquid from the initial flow rate below 15 percent, it is necessary to satisfy the following relationship.

H M/A, H the liquid level during feeding can change in a range from H to H and Equation (3) is expressed as follows,

and, as the ratio of the variation in the liquid level (H H with respect to H becomes large when the value of H /(H H is smaller than 2.5, the variation in the dropping flow rate becomes large so that the requirement of feeding the auxiliary treating liquid with as uniform a dropping flow rate as possible is not satisfied. For example, when 2 liters of 48 percent acetic acid solution is made to flow down through a fine dropping pipe with D 2 mm. from a supplementary vessel of A, 1,000 cm. to a treating bath, the relation between the variation of the dropping flow rate Q with time and the height of fine dropping pipe H is as shown in FIG. 8. If the value of H in FIG. 8 is taken as 40 mm., 75 mm., 150 mm. and 300 mm., the value of H t/(H H becomes 2.0, 3.75, 7.5 and 15.0, respectively. The gradient of the dropping flow rate-time relation becomes as shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 D 2 mm. A,= i000 cm. M 2000 cc.

H Initial flow Final flow initial flow H Hu 2 rate rate rate X 100 o (mm) (co/min.) (cc/min.) (percent) It is indicated in Table I that the variation of the dropping flow rate from its initial to final value is very large when the value of H /(H H is smaller than 2.5.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the relation between the length of fine dropping pipe and dropping flow rate when the auxiliary treating liquid is made to fiow down from the supplementary vessel to the treating bath. It is clear from FIG. 9'that the effect of making the flow rate uniform is not particularly improved even if this length of the fine dropping pipe is made over 300 mm. when the auxiliary treating liquid is made to flow down through a fine dropping pipe with internal diameter of 2 mm. If the length of the fine dropping pipe is made too long, the resistance against flow of the auxiliary treating liquid through the fine dropping pipe becomes larger and the flow rate thereof becomes lower. The optimum length of the fine dropping pipe is determined by the kind of liquid and diameter of the fine dropping pipe.

will.-.

According to this improved method, the feeding operation of the auxiliary treating liquid from each supplementary vessel to each treating bath is controlled by controlling only the distribution operation of the auxiliary treating liquid from one auxiliary treating liquid vessel to each supplementary vessel at a stage fixed in the operation program, as explained above. That is, the feeding operation of the auxiliary treating liquid is simultaneously started at a start time of the distribution operation. then the starting time of the feeding operation is controlled automatically and a specified quantity of the auxiliary treating liquid can be fed at the specified time with almost uniform flow rate. As a result of this, the automatic controlling operation and apparatus thereof required for distribution and feeding of the auxiliary treating liquid can be made very simple, and the cost for the apparatus can be made cheaply, and furthermore, it will be possible to obtain an efficient feeding operation of the auxiliary treating liquid with high accuracy.

The above improved method is explained in further detail ,Pmszeamls; s A V 7 Three square shaped wool top dyeing baths of the dyeing system indicated in FIG. 6 were used for dyeing 300 kg. of wool top with an acid dye, kg. of wool top was charged into each treating bath and the dyeing operation was carried out in accordance with the operation program shown in FIG. 10.

In FIG. 10, the abscissa indicates the passage of time of the operation program of treating baths 104, and 106 and the ordinate indicates the temperature in each treating bath. In the drawing, representation A represents the time of preparation for scouring, B scouring, C preparation for dyeing, D dyeing, E preparation for aftertreatment, F aftertreatment and G discharge of the dyed wool top. Also, references a to r in the drawing indicate each operation stage. That is, reference a indicates the feeding stage of water, b charging of scouring agent, 0 starting of treating liquid recycle pump, 0 completion of scouring, p stopping of recycle pump, d stopping of water discharge, e feeding of water, q starting of recycle pump, f charging auxiliary for dye, g charging of dye, h, ha and hb addition of acid solution for dyeing, i completion of dyeing and discharge of water, j stopping of water discharge and starting water feed, k stopping of water feed and charging of aftertreatment agent, I completion of aftertreatment and water feed, m stopping water feed and water discharge, n stopping recycle ru gas is rsi water har The time lag between the operation program of each treating bath was set at 10 minutes. In the operation period for addition of acid solution in the dyeing operation, it is necessary to slowly add 1.5 liter of 48 percent acetic acid solution over a period of 15 minutes each to each dye bath, and, for this purpose, the following operation was carried out.

First, when the addition stage for acid solution h, is reached in the operation program for treating bath 104, valve is opened, and, at the same time, pump 103 having a constant flow rate is started, 1.5 liter of the aforementioned 48 percent acetic solution is distributed to the supplementary vessel 107 from auxiliary treating liquid vessel 102 at a flow rate of l .liter/min, valve 110 is closed at the stage h, in FIG. 10 and pump 103 is stopped. The time required for feeding at this ti n aslrnmut s. H r.

After the specified time lag of 10 minutes from h, and the stage h, for carrying out acid addition of the operation program of treating bath 105 is reached, valve 111 opens and simultaneously pump 103 is started to similarly distribute 1.5 liter of 48 percent acetic acid solution to the supplementary vessel 108 over a period of 15 minutes and at a stage h valve 111 is closed and pump 103 stopped. Similarly, after the specified time lag of 10 minutes from h, and the stage for carrying out acid addition of the operation program of treating bath 106 is reached, valve 112 is closed and simultaneously pump 103 is started to similarly distribute 1.5 liter of 48 percent acetic acid solution to the supplementary vessel 109 in a period of 15 minutes and at a stage h valve 112 is closed and pump 103 stopped. Each of the supplementary vessels 107,

1.1L 108 and 109 is in a cylindrical form with a bottom area of 1,000 cm. and the fine dropping pipes 122, 123 and 124 provided at the bottom of the supplementary vessel are round pipes having an inner diameter of 2 mm. and length of 150 mm.

When 48 percent acetic acid solution is distributed into the supplementary vessels by the aforementioned operation, it starts to flow down immediately into each treating bath byway of the fine dropping pipes in a period of 14.7 minutes. Also,

the dropping flow rate was 105 cc./min. at the start of dropping and 100 cm./min. at the end of dropping. That is, the stages for starting feed to treating baths 104, 105 and 106 are h,, h and h,, respectively, in FIG. 10, and the stages for stopping feeding is h h and h respectively.

The relation between flow rate and passage of time of acid addition to the above-mentioned treating bath is shown in FIG. 11. That is, the distribution operation to each supplementary vessel attached to each treating bath is carried out with a large flow rate and is completed in 1.5 minutes, while the feeding operation to the treating baths from the supplementary vessel is carried out with a small flow rate in a period of 14.7 minutes. Namely, the acid addition operation to each treating bath can be carried out without any trouble with only one set of a distributing pump 103 and an auxiliary treating liquid vessel in spite of the required feeding time being longer than the time lag of the operation program of each treating' bath and furthermore, the difference in flow rate at the beginning and the end of dropping is very small.

Next, another improvement of the method of this invention is explained.

In case the treating bath for textile material is a dyeing bath in which the treating solution is circulated through a textile material packed densely, for example in an Obermaier type staple fiber dyeing machine, wool top dyeing machine, cheese dyeing machine or beam dyeing machine, the charging operation for the required quantity of the treating liquid is normally carried out by directly observing the liquid level from outside the bath or indirectly by use of the liquid level meter attachedito the outside of the bath and stopping the charging when the specified liquid level has been reached. However, this conventional method had the defects explained in detail below, by

' which variation in the charging quantity of each operation and fin the liquor ratio and, therefore, uneven dyeing resulted. An actual example is explained in order to clarify the defect mentioned above. The square shaped wool top dyeing machine shown in FIG. 12 is composed of a square shaped outside bath 201 for containing the treating liquid and a cylindrical inside basket 203 for containing the wool top 202 and the outside bath 201 and the inside basket 203 are fluidly connected by way of numerous apertures 204 formed in the wall of the inside bath. The treating liquid in the outside bath 201 is circulated into the inside basket 203 by means of a recycle pump 205. In the dyeing bath of FIG. 2, the outside bath 201 has the I following internal dimensions, a width of 1,300 mm., a length of 1,300 mm. and a depth of 1200 mm and the inside basket 203 has a diameter of 470 mm. and height of 900 mm. Wool top of 100 kg. was charged into the inside basket 203 and water was fed for about 2 minutes at a flow rate of about 400 liter/min until the water level reached 690 mm. from the bottom of the outside bath. When the change of the water level with time was measured, the result shown in FIG. 13 was-obtained. That is, as shown in FIG. 13, the initial water level of 690 mm. becomes about620 mm. after 1 minute, about 590 mm. after 2 minutes, about 580 mm. after 4 minutes andfinally the water level reaches an equilibrium of 574 mm. after about 7 minutes. The quantity of water in the bath at this time was 860 liters.

Such a phenomenon is due to the fact that the rising rate of water level in the inside basket is much slower than the rising rate of water level in the outside bath. That is, after introduction of water is stopped, the water level in the outside bath drops and the water level in the inside basket rises until bath water levels are reached at an equilibrium condition by the water in the outside bath flowing into the inside basket and penetrating into the wool top.

Consequently, the charging quantity of water into this dyeing apparatus cannot be adjusted accurately by considering only that the water level in the outside bath was reached to the specified water level. In view of this, the charging quantity of water is determined accurately by providing a liquid measuring device in the water charging passageway or a separate storage vessel which holds a fixed quantity is provided, but in such cases, it will not be possible to avoid the equipment cost .freubssem ss .7

The present improvement solves the aforementioned problem and it provides a method for supplying the specified quantity of liquid accurately to the treating bath without using special equipment.

Now, the model shown in FIG. 14 is for clearly explaining the change which takes place in the water level of both the outside bath and the inside ba s ket in case wateris introduced into the outside bath, and at the same time, water is filled in the inside basket which is fluidly connected to the outside bath.

In FIG. 14, the inside basket B is drawn outside the outside bath A in order to make it understood more clearly. Now, water is first fed into bath A and this feeding is stopped when it reaches a false set water level 11;.

When the water level in basket B at this stopping time is H thegrgss gtignal area of bath A is As2, the cross sectional area of basket B is A53, the flow resistance of the passage from bath A to basket B (pipe, pump teigile material) is R s flow rate from bath A to basket B is w, and the water level of bath A at an arbitrary time t is hi, the relation between flow rate w and time t can be expressed by the following equations,

When equation (5) is differentiated,

du) 1 1 h. fie I (MT 3 (6) That is,

1 1 l l 5' R-Arabia) When equation (7) is integrated,

"Now, if

As2As3Rs C As2+As3 and A" MW :L

are taken,; w=el -A (9) Asw= whent=0,

H s H 4 A Rs Therefore, from equation (9),

rs 4 w e g (10) and hi can be expressed by the following equation,

h'H I -dt l As2 w When this equation is substituted into equation (10),

1 HFH. T A52] RS 6 m r (H H,)T jffiwLiifi As hi=H3, when i=0,

a (Ht-110T therefore,

. (H H )T T ht H3 RSASZ (1 e 11) 3 where,

As2As3Rs As2-l-As3 As A52, A53 and Rs are constants which depend on the ap- 35 paratus, T is also a constant which depends on the apparatus. Therefore, when t is sufi'iciently large, the following equation is concluded,

and then hi also is a constant. Therefore, the time t, until.

side basket such as a cheese dyeing machine or beam dyeing machine, and, in case of such machines, the liquid level can be corrected after waiting until the treating liquid has penetrated sufficiently into the textile material.

The above-mentioned improved operation can be set in the treatment operation program of the method of this invention so that the second water feeding operation is carried out with a specified time interval which depends on the dyeing bath used.

It is possible to charge an accurate amount of the treating liquid into the treating bath by the method of this improvement without providing a special liquid measuring means so that accurate treatment operation can be assured.

mxt, another feature of this invention is explained.

In a closed, batch-type dyeing apparatus such as the Obermaier type staple fiber dyeing machine, wool top dyeing machine, cheese dyeing machine or beam dyeing machine, the following problems will be found in case feed and discharge of the treating liquid are carried out with the treating bath in a closed condition. That is, when the discharge pipe provided at the bottom of the bath is opened and the treating liquid in the treating bath is discharged, the pressure in the space above the liquid level of the treating bath drops and when this pressure -becomes considerably lower than the atmospheric pressure, discharge of the treating liquid becomes difficult and it will become necessary to ventilate air to the space. In the opposite case, if the feeding of treating liquid into the treating bath is carried out, the pressure in the space at the upper part of the bath rises with the rise in the Water level in the treating bath and when this air pressure becomes higher than the charging pressure, it will become difficult to continue charging of the treating liquid and as a result, the air in the space must be expelled outside the treating bath.

Previously, it was the general practice to carry out such ;water feed and discharge operations and the air introduction and ventilation operations by manual operation of the operators. Recently, water feed and discharge operations began to .be carried out automatically, however, an apparatus for carry- 0 'ing out air introduction and ventilation interlocked with water feed and discharge was entirely unknown.

Furthermore, in case textile material is charged into a closed treating bath and treated by forced recycling of the treating liquid, if the liquid level in the treating bath becomes equilibrium liquid level k is reached differs in accordance .lower than a certain level, alarge amount of foam is produced with each treating bat h and operating condition, but the time 1,, was approximately 7 minutes in case 100 kg. of wool top was 3 charged into the wool top dyeing machineof FlG. L2. i

In another case, the time t, was 4 minutes in case of a in the bath due to this recycling by the pump, the foam is mixed into the treating liquid in a bubbled condition, and =then, the efficiency of the recycle pump is reduced lower and troubles, such as considerable contamination of the upper insimilarly square shaped wool top dyeing machine having a=side wallof the bath, are caused by continuation of the containing capacity of 50 kg ofwool top. 7 H V m M i 7 Therefore, in the treating bath of this example, the first introduction into the outside bath is carried out to a false liquid level slightly higher than the desired liquid level and after 7 recycling in the above-mentioned condition. In order to prevent formation of such foams, the recycle operation is stopped until the liquid level reaches the specified suitable level or the recycle operation is stopped when the liquid level minutes within which the liquid levels become in an equilibrihas pp to this Specified level by discharging the q um condition, the second introduction into theouttsidebathto a true specified liquid level is carried out, by which the Specified quantity f te n e ar s accura elxAh natively, the water may be introduced while following the dropping conditionof the liquid level of thgoutside bath and the liquid level can be corrected to the specified level after 7 m nutes V Also, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, as water is first An apparatus in which such starting and stopping of the recycle operation have been controlled automatically by interlocking with the treating liquid feed and discharge operations was unknown in the past and then it has been necessary to rely on manual operation of the operators to carry out these operatrons.

This improvement is for solving the aforementioned problems which existed previously.

This improvement will be explained with reference the em- The exampleof FIG. I? was for a dyeing machine an inside basket for containing the textile material but this is 2 ppli b e ia fi lesh w h? net er 2&1:

In this embodiment, the treating apparatus contains an inside basket 303 for charging textile material 302 in a closed treating bath 301, and this treating bath is closed by means of cover 304. The treating liquid 305 is recycled by passing it through the textile material 302 in the inside basket 303 by means of recycle pump 306. Now, when treating is completed and the treating liquid in the bath is to be discharged in the closed condition, the liquid level 308 in the bath drops with the discharge of the treating liquid through discharge valve 227M 22 M sps tt p s weia SEE? i reduced as ventilating valve 312, by which water feed is completed. Howsucked into the space 309 and discharge progresses without any trouble. Similarly, in order to introduce the treating liquid into the bath in the condition when the cover 304 is closed, first water discharge valve 307 and air suction valve 310 are closed and the treating liquid is introduced by opening water:

feed valve 311. The liquid level rises gradually as a result of p this introduction, pressure in space 309 rises and when this pressure approaches the feeding water pressure, then the feed-' ing becomes difficult, and consequently, air must be ventilated from space tothe atmosphere. As the liquidlevel rises and reaches the level of the air ventilating valve 312, the liquid 1 overflows from the bath through the air ventilating pipe.

When the liquid level further drops during the liquid discharge operation and reaches the detection position of liquid level detector 313, pump 306 is stopped to stop the recycle of the treating liquid. Also, the water feeding opera- 2 tion is started with drawing of pump 306 to start the recycle of treating liquid, by which the liquid level rises and reaches the detection liquid level 313. These operations are carried out automatically in accordance with the treating program. Conventional detectors such as the float type detector or a detector formed with an electric circuit described below may be used as the liquid level detector.

An example of the operation of the apparatus of this invention is explained in detail with reference to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17.

Relay R1 is energized to close its point of contact R1-2 by a signal to feed water sent at a stage set in the treating program, by which water feed valve 311 and air ventilating valve 312 open simultaneously to start the feeding of water. When this signal for feeding water is sent, relay R2 is de-energized automatically and points of contact R2-1, Rl-l and R3-1 close. As the water level rises gradually and reaches the position of the level of detector tip L0 of the liquid level detector, a current flows between detector tip L00 and detector tip L0 by way of the treating liquid in the bath to energize relay R0 and its point of contact R0-1 closes. Relay R4 is energized by this operation to close point of contact R4-1 but as point of contact R2-2 is open, the water discharge valve 307 and air suction 310 valve are not actuated.

As the water level rises further and reaches the position of detector tip LL, relay RL is energized point of contact RL-l is closed and magnetic switch for pump MP is actuated, by which the recycling operation of the treating liquid is started.

As the water is fed further and the level reaches the position of I ing agent from a vessel of which one is provided for each auxiliary treating liquid into said treating bath to prepare said treating liquid by mixing with said main treating liquid and detector tip LH, relay RH is similarly actuated, point of contact Rl-I-l is closed, relay R3 is actuated and its point of contact R3-1 is opened to close the water feed valve 311 and air ever, the recycling of the treating liquid by pump 306 is continued. In the above operation, when the level reaches the detector tip LH, then relay RH is energized to close point of contact RH-l and relay R3 is actuated if a timer (not being indicated in FIG. 17) is actuated by closing of point of contact of relay. R3, and point of contact R3-1 is opened after passing of a period set on this timer, this water feeding operation is not stopped to continue the feed even if the level reaches the detector tip LH so that the level in the bath rises further and is discharged from the bath through the air ventilating valve 3 12. The overflow of water continues during the specified period of the fireflies-s mrstislui l i est bath- Next, the water discharge operation is explained. Relay R2 is actuated by the water discharge signal sent at the specified stage of the treating program in the same time the actuation of 70 relay R1 is stopped and point of contact R2-2 of relay R2 is closed, and then the water discharge valve 307 and air suction valve 310 are opened simultaneously to start the water discharge operation. At this time, point of contact R4-1 is in closed condition and the recycle pump is being driven. When the water level in the bath drops and passes the position of the detector tip LH, the actuation of relay RH, is stopped, its point of contact RI-l-l is opened, the actuation of relay R3 is stopped and its point of contact R3-1 is closed. However, as the actuation of relay R1 is stopped and its point of contact R1-2 is opened as mentioned above, then the water feed valve 311 and air ventilating valve 312 cannot open. As a result of :this operation, water discharge is continued and when the water level drops further and exceeds detector tip LL, the actuation of relay RL is stopped, its point of contact RL-l is opened, actuation of magnetic switch for pump MP is stopped and its actuation to stop the recycling operation of the recycle pump. However, water discharge is continued. When the liqiiidlevel drops further and exceeds detector tip L0, the circuit between detector tips L0 and L00 is cut off, actuation of relay R0 stops, its point of contact R4-l opens, as a result of which air ventilating valve 312 and air suction valve 310 close to complete the water discharge operation.

In this improvement, the feed, discharge and recycle operations can be carried out automatically by the corresponding signals sent in accordance with the treating program, therefore, it is possible to control the liquid feed and discharge operation in the condition where the treating bath is closed :tions for the textile material can be constantly maintained in and the liquid recycle operation corresponding to the liquid level in the treating bath. Consequently, the treating condiorder to prevent variation in the quality of the treated material, furthermore, the manual work for the treating operation 30 222 be itq sqvsstbsaumb fr srs n What 1 claim is:

l. A method of automatically treating textile material with treating liquid comprising the application of a successive treatment of at least the following operations to each of two or more batch-type treating baths containing textile material in accordance with an automatic treating operation program in which (i) the sequence and time periods of said operations for each of said treating baths are set independently of each other, and (ii) the stages of each of said operations for each said treating bath are fixed with a predetermined time lag between each other: (1) feeding water into said treating bath to a predetermined level, (2) feeding a predetermined quantity of a main treating liquid containing at least one main treating agent prepared within a main treating liquid vessel and successively feeding a predetermined quantity of cleaning liquid containing said main treating liquid remaining in said main treating liquid vessel from a bottom of said main treating liquid vessel into said treating bath to prepare a treating liquid by mixing with water, 3) distributing a predetermined quantity of an auxiliary treating liquid containing the desired auxiliary treatwater, (4) circulating said mixed treating liquid through said -textile material charged within said treating bath, and (5) discharging said mixed treating liquid from said treating bath.

said textile material-containing portion are reached at almost equilibrium condition, additionally feeding water into said treating bath through said mixed treating liquid-containing portion to said desired water level.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said feeding of said cleaning liquid is performed in such a manner that (1) after said main treating liquid in said main treating liquid vessel has downwardly reached a prescribed level, cleaning liquid flows down over the entire surface of the inside wall of said main treating liquid vessel with a flow rate of R for a time period of T,

(2) at the same time, said cleaning liquid in said main treating liquid vessel is fed into said treating bath through said bottom of said main treating liquid vessel by way of a liquid pump having a transferring capacity flow rate of S in accordance with the following relations:

R 2 S and Q Q RT wherein R, S and Tare as defined above, Q represents the volume of main treating liquid prepared in said main treating liquid vessel and Q represents the total volume of said treating liquid and cleaning liquid to be fed into said treatin bath. 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, w erein said distributing of said auxiliary treating liquid is carried out in such a manner that (a) said auxiliary treating liquid is distributed from said vessel into a supplementary vessel provided for each of said treating baths at a predetermined flow rate, and (b) said distributed auxiliary treating liquid is fed from said supplementary vessel into said treating bath in a free fall condition of natural dropping at a smaller flow rate than said distributing flow rate.

5. A method of automatically treating textile material with treating liquid comprising: providing a plurality of containers; placing textile material to be treated into each container; feeding water into each container until same is filled to a predetermined level; feeding a predetermined quantity of a main treating liquid from a common vessel through a conduit to each of said containers to obtain a water-main treating liquid mixture followed by feeding a predetermined quantity of a cleaning liquid to said common vessel and then to said conduit to washout said common vessel and conduits; feeding a predetermined quantity of an auxiliary treating liquid to each of said containers to obtain a water-main treating liquid-auxiliary treating liquid mixture; circulating the water-main treating liquid-auxiliary treating liquid mixture through the textile material contained within each said container to effectively treat the textile material; and independently controlling the time duration of said circulating and each of said feeding steps for each said container to impart a predetermined time lag between successive steps in accordance with a predetermined material treating program.

6. A method according to claim 5; wherein said step of feeding main treating liquid and cleaning liquid comprises feeding a volume Q of said main treating liquid into said common vessel and delivering same to each of said containers, then feeding cleaning liquid at a flow rate R for a time duration T into said common vessel, discharging the cleaning liquid and residue main treating liquid from said common vessel at a flow rate S, and carrying out the above-mentioned steps in accordance with the relationships:

R 5 S and Q; Q RT wherein Q represents the total volume of main treating liquid and cleaning liquid fed to said containers.

7. A method according to claim 5; wherein said step of feeding auxiliary treating liquid comprises feeding auxiliary treating liquid at a given flow rate into a plurality of supplementary vessels each disposed above one of said containers, and letting said auxiliary treating liquid in each of said supplementary vessels fall by gravity into the associated container at a flow rate less than said given flow rate. 

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said feeding water for said treating bath is provided with a portion which contains said mixed treating liquid and a portion which contains said textile material and fluidly connected to said mixed treating liquid contained portion, comprises (a) first feeding water into said treating bath through said mixed treating liquid-containing portion to a false water level set in said mixed treating liquid-containing portion higher than the actual desired water level, and (b) after said water level in said mixed treating liquid containing portion and the water level in said textile material-containing portion are reached at almost equilibrium condition, additionally feeding water into said treating bath through said mixed treating liquid-containing portion to said desired water level.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said feeding of said cleaning liquid is performed in such a manner that (1) after said main treating liquid in said main treating liquid vessel has downwardly reached a prescribed level, cleaning liquid flows down over the entire surface of the inside wall of said main treating liquid vessel with a flow rate of R for a time period of T, (2) at the same time, said cleaning liquid in said main treating liquid vessel is fed into said treating bath through said bottom of said main treating liquid vessel by way of a liquid pump having a transferring capacity flow rate of S in accordance with the following relations: R > or = S and Q2 Q1 + RT wherein R, S and T are as defined above, Q1 represents the volume of main treating liquid prepared in said main treating liquid vessel and Q2 represents the total volume of said treating liquid and cleaning liquid to be fed into said treating bath.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distributing of said auxiliary treating liquid is carried out in such a manner that (a) said auxiliary treating liquid is distributed from said vessel into a supplementary vessel provided for each of said treating baths at a predEtermined flow rate, and (b) said distributed auxiliary treating liquid is fed from said supplementary vessel into said treating bath in a free fall condition of natural dropping at a smaller flow rate than said distributing flow rate.
 5. A method of automatically treating textile material with treating liquid comprising: providing a plurality of containers; placing textile material to be treated into each container; feeding water into each container until same is filled to a predetermined level; feeding a predetermined quantity of a main treating liquid from a common vessel through a conduit to each of said containers to obtain a water-main treating liquid mixture followed by feeding a predetermined quantity of a cleaning liquid to said common vessel and then to said conduit to wash-out said common vessel and conduits; feeding a predetermined quantity of an auxiliary treating liquid to each of said containers to obtain a water-main treating liquid-auxiliary treating liquid mixture; circulating the water-main treating liquid-auxiliary treating liquid mixture through the textile material contained within each said container to effectively treat the textile material; and independently controlling the time duration of said circulating and each of said feeding steps for each said container to impart a predetermined time lag between successive steps in accordance with a predetermined material treating program.
 6. A method according to claim 5; wherein said step of feeding main treating liquid and cleaning liquid comprises feeding a volume Q1 of said main treating liquid into said common vessel and delivering same to each of said containers, then feeding cleaning liquid at a flow rate R for a time duration T into said common vessel, discharging the cleaning liquid and residue main treating liquid from said common vessel at a flow rate S, and carrying out the above-mentioned steps in accordance with the relationships: R > or = S and Q2 Q1 + RT wherein Q2 represents the total volume of main treating liquid and cleaning liquid fed to said containers.
 7. A method according to claim 5; wherein said step of feeding auxiliary treating liquid comprises feeding auxiliary treating liquid at a given flow rate into a plurality of supplementary vessels each disposed above one of said containers, and letting said auxiliary treating liquid in each of said supplementary vessels fall by gravity into the associated container at a flow rate less than said given flow rate. 